•••
"Hey, Bucky right? I've seen you around but haven't actually spoken to you - sorry about that"
"It's okay" he said, looking slightly surprised I was talking to him.
"I'm Grace Barton" I smiled, outstretching my arm to offer a handshake. He accepted, his hand gently enclosing mine. "I've heard quite a lot about you from Steve, all good things don't worry"
His eyes flickered to my bruised neck and guilt flashed through his eyes as he nodded, before averting his eyes back towards the floor.
"This wasn't your fault"
His head shot up to look at me, "What?"
"What happened to me wasn't your fault, please don't blame yourself. I'd love to be your friend, so you should know that this would've happened at some point"
"They were looking for me"
"And if it wasn't you, it would've been someone else. This is on the person that sold me out, not you"
A semi-awkward silence descended upon us, a thought springing to mind.
"Shit" I shouted, jumping out of my seat, "CLINT WE FORGOT OUR GOATS"
"Your what?" Bucky asked, still slightly on guard from the sudden noise.
"Our goats, we have goats - CLINT"
"I love goats!"
"CLI- Wait. You like goats?"
"Yeah," He said slowly, as if trying to figure out why he suddenly proclaimed his love for the animal, "I think I love goats"
"You'll love mine. Their names are Shrek, Fiona and Donkey - theyre characters from the movie, Shrek. I'll have to show you some time"
He just nodded, his eyes glazing over slightly, "I think I used to pet the goats at the farm-zoo at Coney Island with Steve when we were younger"
I grinned at the new breakthrough, "that's great - maybe if we can get them back you can help me look after them?"
"Yes - yes please. I'd like that"
I smiled at him, before excusing myself to find Clint. On my way through the guesthouse I ran in to Steve.
"Hey" I greeted happily, receiving a hello in response, "Bucky just remembered another thing"
"Really? What?"
"That you used to pet goats at Coney Island"
A nostalgic haze seemed to cross Steve's eyes as a small smile broke onto his face, nodding slowly.
"Thank you"
"No problemo"
"About Clint - he's not in the best mood at the moment" Steve said, guilt in his tone, "we just had to give him some bad news. I think he should explain it"
I nodded cautiously before carrying on, my pace slightly more hurried than before.
I eventually found him in the gym beating the crap out of a punching bag. Despite the anger on his face, I couldn't help myself watching him for a few minutes, admiring the way his muscles flexed. The bang of the punching bag splitting was enough to bring me out of my horny daze, continuing my trajectory towards him.
"Hey, you okay?" I asked, gently grabbing his hand as he reached for another punching bag. The touch made him jump, and I realised that his hearing aids had been taken out. I moved back slightly so he could see my hand movements as I signed.
"Are you okay?"
Clint just nodded, before turning back to the punching bag. I frowned and gently grabbing his chin to make him look at me again.
"You don't look okay. Let me help"
"Not now. I just need to blow off some steam"
A small smirk blossomed on my face, making him raise a brow.
"Let me help"
He finally clicked, going over to the table to put his hearing aids back in, before rushing over to me and throwing me over his shoulder and walking into the shower room.
"Lock that door" he instructed as he set me down, pointing at the main door to the showers as he moved to lock the other.
"Yes sir" I winked, clicking the door shut.
•••
"You wanna tell me what's wrong now?" I asked, tracing the grooves of Clint's hand with my finger. We had made our way back to the bedroom for a second round whilst the twins took the kids out to play in the garden, both of us lying peacefully on the bed, limbs entangled.
"Steve found the people that took you"
My relaxed demeanour was instantly gone, all my muscles tending. He noticed the change, pulling me flush against his chest, stroking my hair.
"I can't get them Grace. I'm so sorry"
"It's them isn't it? Senator Ross?"
"I'm guessing he was desperate to find Steve - cover his ass -"
"I'm pretty sure torturing someone is illegal. Why can't we just blow this up in his face?"
"You're supposed to be dead, and we could leak the footage to the public but Steve said he couldn't find any evidence in the actual video"
"He has the tapes?"
"Yes"
"Have you seen them?"
"I couldn't watch them, I don't even think I want to"
I just nodded, rubbing his arms calmingly.
"Why shouldn't we try to get our own back?"
"I know we're on the run at the moment, but we can't be forever. If I - if we did this, there's no way back. We can't do that to the kids"
I let out a shaky sigh, Clint's grip tightening slightly.
"As much as I'd like to punch his face - and trust me, I really want to - I see where you're coming from" I said slowly, "This shit sucks"